This Death-Defying Sculpture Is a Bouncy Castle for Adults

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This Death-Defying Sculpture Is a Bouncy Castle for Adults

Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use has made a bouncy castle for adults. Image: Numen/For Use

The outside of the structure is made from a plastic-coated fabric. Image: Numen/For Use

But inside the inflatable skin is a complex series of nets. Image: Numen/For Use

The first blow up net was installed at the waterfront in Yokohama, Japan. Image: Numen/For Use

Each layer is connected by round wooden discs that dictate how taut the nets are. Image: Numen/For Use

Shadows from the bouncers can be seen from the outside at night. Image: Numen/For Use

There was a point in time when trampolines were the thing to have. That, of course, was before we found out how amazing plain ol’ netting could be. We’ve already shown you Tomas Saraceno’s In Orbit, a complex 27,000-square foot mesh structure. But there’s another competitor for the title of coolest hammock in the world.

Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use has created what can best be described as a high-design bouncy castle for adults. From the outside, the membrane-like structure looks like a modernist circus tent, but inside, it's actually an undulating maze of mesh netting that you can crawl, bounce or lounge on.

The inflatable sculpture (which is around 30x20x20 feet total) was recently installed at a waterfront in Yokohama, Japan, where people of all sizes were invited to navigate their way through the layers of mesh netting. “We said, let’s put different layers of netting so when you look from underneath you see them levitating on different levels,” explains Christoph Katzler, a co-founder of Numen. “We thought it might look like flying through the air.”

The netting acts similar to a hammock, bending and stretching based on the heft of the person sitting or standing on it. Each layer is connected by wooden discs that help to stabilize the structure. Though it looks straightforward, it’s not just a matter of draping a few nets together and pulling them tight. Katzler says they worked with engineers to calculate how the netting might react, and built models to test the tautness of it. “We’re not computer guys, he says. “It may look like its computer-generated, but it’s all based on models and tests.”

Once inside, people quickly realize how difficult it is to move gracefully. “Everyone was tumbling and falling,” Katzler recalls. “And we were like, are they all drunk?” Like most of Numen’s work, the blow-up netting structure is meant to make people question their stability and equilibrium. They’ve done this before with play structures formed from clear sticky tape that look like amorphous jungle gyms made from Spiderman’s webbing. And even the netting installation used to take a different form. Pre blow-up, the collective would craft metal skeletons that were attached to museum walls, with the netting strung up within that structure. “It was like bombing the walls,” he explains. “You had to fix it so often.”

Katzler says the blow-up version has a few more added benefits. First, it’s reusable, while the metal structures would simply have to be torn down and tossed away. Plus, it’s actually safer. When asked if anyone has gotten hurt in the installations, Katzler laughs and says, “That’s a typical American question.” Still, he admits, “If you ask me if it’s risky, yes it is. But everything is so soft and fluffy you don’t have to worry if you fall.”